The Most Impossible Soulbond

A Talk Long Overdue

"So, who's your friend here, Ginny?" Harry asked the Weasley girl, who visibly blushed in return.

Pansy refrained from rolling her eyes at the pathetic display. She listened only with half an ear as the Weasley girl introduced Lovegood, not that it was needed in her opinion. Anyone who was anyone knew Loony and her equally loony father. That they were actually making money off of that rag they were selling still was mind-boggling to her.

"It's so stifling here," her fellow Slytherin complained with a huff, making Pansy laugh without humour.

"You and me both, Daph." Pansy sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do in the dungeons," she admitted. "How am I supposed to stay there and live there again with everyone else after all of this?" Just thinking about it made her want to vomit.

"Why, you reckon your lot won't be too pleased with your and Harry's situation?" Harry's Weasley wondered, his tone not even hiding his mockery.

"Do you think this is funny, Weasley?" Pansy leaned forward and glared past Harry at his Weasley, who was sitting by the window. "I'll gladly trade places with you. You can be bonded to Harry if you want. You're latched onto him as it is, like the leech you are."

"Bloody hell are you on about?" Weasley retorted incredulously, now also leaning forward to face her with his ears taking on an ugly red tinge.

He knew very well what she was on about but Pansy wasn't willing to spell it out for him. The school year hadn't even officially started and she was already getting fed up. It was tiring to deal with all this shite, all their hateful and self-righteous comments – each and every one coming seemingly out of nowhere. While provoking them was good fun, certainly, Pansy hadn't done anything of that sort here.

All she had wanted was a peaceful ride and she was determined to get it, no matter what.

So, not bothering to grace him with a verbal response, Pansy just scoffed and turned away. Daphne also wrinkled her nose in distaste and it was just an altogether gnarly environment they had found themselves in. But what could she do? She leaned to her left and into Daphne's shoulder, a silent showing of gratitude that she opted to suffer through this with her instead of mingling with Draco and the others.

No matter what, she knew that she could at least rely on her best friend.

"And that's what I feel with Ron," Harry said through their bond.

Pansy chuckled, audibly. She turned her head slightly to look at Harry with a small smile and a raised brow. "For your sake, I sure hope you're right."

"You do realise how eerie this is, don't you?" Daphne asked her with a shudder.

Grimacing, Pansy gave a one-shouldered shrug. "I do but, disturbingly, I've grown used to it."

"It could've been worse, honestly," Harry admitted after a while, though she could sense his attempt at lightening the tense atmosphere in this crowded, misfitted compartment. "Imagine having Crabbe or Goyle in your head like this."

"Eurgh." Daphne scrunched her face up at the thought. "A troll would be a more enlightening company than either of those two."

Pansy appreciated Harry's peace offer, if only begrudgingly. And, as annoying as he was and as much of a hypocrite as he was, he was right. She could have had it worse than Harry bloody Potter, as unbelievable as it sounded.

"Vincent or Gregory might not have been half bad, admittedly," Pansy mused after a while. "They don't have the capacity of thought in any manner, so I'd have some peace and quiet from someone else's thoughts."

It drew a snort from Harry's Weasley.

"He isn't 'my Weasley'. Stop it with this rubbish already, will you?"